Saturday, November 22, 2008

speaking of convenience stores

I would say I spend more time than the average person at convenience stores over the course of a day. (No, not that kind of convenience store! What kind of girl do you think I am? Never mind that . . . So to make sure there's no confusion, the store hereafter will be referred to as QT) And, let me tell you, there are some really interesting, strange, and dumb things that go on there. (I guess I should explain, to those of you who may not know, my work takes me outside. So I go to QT for coffee in the morning, potty breaks, lunch, potty breaks, etc.) Anyway, I've spent so much time at QT and seen and experienced so many things there, I've decided to share a few of them with you. Aren't you excited?

First and foremost, because I want you to know not all things that happen at QT are bad. No, actually, I met RL at the QT. Really? Really! Back in the days when he was a fresh college graduate, still looking for the right job, he worked at QT. One day I walked through the door and into his life forever.

But back to the strange . . .

At QT there's just about anything you could want for your morning drive into work. Breakfast burritos, egg & sausage buiscuts, and, of course, COFFEE. One morning, as I was standing in line to pay (there's always a line, because everyone and their dog goes to QT in the mornings), I was patiently waiting my turn when I noticed an older woman scanning the breakfast choices offered. She made up her mind, picked up her selection, and quickly slipped it into her coat pocket. As a nice cover to the petty theft, she stood in line to pay for her chocolate milk.

Then there are the people who rarely, if ever, actually enter the QT, because they are standing out front (usually near the pay phone) trying to run a scam. One, I watched from my own front row seat in the work truck, involved two young "stranded" females. They walked up to the pay phone, one picked up the receiver, and proceeded to act as though she was having a conversation. The other one scanned the parking lot for a victim. A woman walked passed them and they completely ignored her. Next a young man came walking towards them and the one woman elbowed the other on the phone. She immediately went into full damsel in distress mode. The other woman stopped the man and explained they had run out of gas and didn't have any money and could he just give them a couple of dollars. He did, walked away, and the two women had a good laugh behind his back as they spied their next victim.

Not all things that happen at QT are criminal. Some things are just a little weird. Like someone who randomly walks up to people and asks them if they can take a picture of their tatoo to show their daughter. Or people who actually let some stranger take a picture of their tatoo. The really weird thing was when the girl was asked if a picture could be taken of her tattoo she said, "The one on my neck?" Well, um, yeah. Cause that's the only one I can see and cause I'm not gonna ask you to drop your drawers so I can get a pic of the rose tatooed on your butt. Weirdo!!

6 comments:

Um, PR, that looks like a little girl with one of those fake tattoos - are you kidding us here?

But yeah, we don't have too many QT type stores around here. So, when we are on vacation and have stopped at one (to get food or sometimes they have gas), I pretty much tell the kids to lock all their doors!

I've had some very interesting things happen at QT, but my overall experiences have been fantastic. I told T that no matter how much money they offer him, we can't move to a city w/o QT (or Bueno). I grew up with 7-11s and Circle Ks and man they are NASTY. QTs are always well lit, clean, have bathrooms I don't fear, and polite clerks. However, I will concede that I run into some pretty weird people (not typically working) at QT... and several other places now that I think about it.